Recommend a Good 45 colt Lever cowboy gun.

[355sigfan]

I am looking for a Winchester lever action in 45 colt. Whats the different between the Trapper, Legacy, End of train ext. What about Navy Arms. I want something that looks nice and can accept a tang sight without a lot of gunsmithing. Thanks in advance.
Pat

 

[JNewell]

I would look at the Marlin 1894, actually. The Win 1894 action is bigger than necessary for the .45 Colt, and the cowboy-action types seem to break them a lot more often than the Marlin. The Marlin is also by design a side-ejector, so I think it works better than the AE Winchesters. Additional bonus - you can clean the Marlin from the breech extremely easily, which isn't true with the Win 1894.

 

[iamkris]

Nothing wrong with the Trapper but I've seen them bobble more often than other brands in my cowboy shooting as the 94 action is orginally for rifle cartridges. Nothing wrong at all with the Marlin...it is the luxury car of the cowboy shooting scene.

Do a search on Rossi 92 in this forum. Lots of threads on it. Rossi makes the Win 92 rifle that Legacy / Puma imports. THey also make EMFs and Navy Arms versions (they are higher grade than the Legacy.) I have the ROssi and love it. Here's a cut and paste from one of several threads I've posted in on them.

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I have one of the Rossi Win92-clones that I shoot in cowboy action shooting (under the alias Thaddeus Muckenfuss). It is a stainless model, 24" octagonal barrel, crescent buttplate, .45 Colt. In a phrase...I love it.

Rossi's are a good value in my opinion. I paid $275 lightly used. I originally bought it used because it was cheap and I was already spending a lot to get into the sport. I figured that I'd trade it later for a Marlin or Winchester. I started shooting it and found it well made and VERY accurate. It has NEVER misfed. In fact, I have no intention of getting rid of it.

I did make some changes however. An afternoon of elbow grease, steel wool and stripper got rid of the awful black finish they use on their wood (I think it is a Brazilian hardwood of some kind). I put some walnut stain and an oil finish and got a lovely dark golden hue with a lot of figure. I also swapped out the sights to Marbles full buckhorn rear and Game Getter front blade (total of about $25 from Brownells). The Rossi sights are a little on the cheap side. I also had Steve Young (Rossi gunsmith) remove the stupid bolt safety and fill it with a plug for $40. Slapped a Bunkhouse spring kit ($15) in the rifle and she is GOOD TO GO! That and a few thousand rounds through her have smoothed the action up to be like butter. Even with all that extra, I have only about $360 in the rifle.

Fast, smooth, super accurate. 3 seasons of cowboy shooting on her (over 1000 rounds) and never a hiccup...no failures to feed, fire or eject. No broken parts. BTW, Rossi makes the Win92 clones for Navy Arms and (I believe) EMF also. You can pay a little bit more for those and get some of the modifications I did built in.

Here she is with a few of her friends

 

[Smoke Rizen]

I read alot from critics of the mod. 94s in .45 LC but I don't agree with most. I have a 94 Trails End that I shoot in CAS and have no problems. I have reworked the action to smooth it up but even before the work it was flawless. If you are looking for a buy the Big 5 sporting Goods stores have the Marlin on sale now for $299. which you can't beat! Either gun,or the 92 clones would be an excellent choice. If you're looking at Cowboy shooting,SASS, you may want to look into either a 73,or 86 replica as the Classic Cowboy class requires you use one of those in that class.

 

[iamkris]

That's a great price on the Marlin

 

[Domino]

I have a Navy Arms Rossi model 92' in .45 Colt. I have handled and shot the Winchester and Marlin model 94's and I haven't been super impressed with the action or the price. The 92' is has a smoother action and I imagine has a slightly more sturdy design. Just go and handle a few Winchesters, Marlins and Rossi's and see what you think. Either one would serve well depending on your needs and wants.